IPOH: Three youths, two of them college students, were killed when their motorcycles collided with each other during an illegal race along the North-South Expressway near Sim­pang Pulai.

Those killed in the 3.20am incident yesterday were Mohd Azwandi Riffen, 26, from Sungai Siput, and college students Muhamad Nursyafiq Sham, 19, from Malim Nawar, and Syed Muhammad Aiman Syed Hassandi, 18, from Sungai Siput.

Perak Public Order and Traffic Department chief Supt Wan Jamil Wan Chik said about 100 motorcyclists were racing on the highway from the Ipoh South toll plaza towards Simpang Pulai when the incident happened.

“They collided with each other, tumbled onto the road and died on the spot due to severe head and body injuries,” he said yesterday.

The other motorcyclists fled when police arrived, taking along the machines belonging to the victims.

The remains of the three victims were sent to Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital.

Arul unconditionally accepts Pua's challenge for live TV debate

KUALA LUMPUR: Arul Kanda Kandasamy is now unconditionally accepting Tony Pua's challenge for a public debate, withdrawing his earlier proviso that the PJ Utara MP first steps down from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

"I hereby withdraw my condition. I will meet Tony Pua for a live televised discussion or debate without any conditions.

"I look forward to having this discussion so we can debate all the questions Pua has," said the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) president.

Arul also thanked RTM for agreeing to facilitate the live debate.

After the announcement, Pua posted his thanks to Arul on Facebook for accepting the challenge and withdrawing his earlier condition attached to it.

He also thanked RTM for agreeing to host the program and hoped the date, time and format would be sorted out soon.

"The only people who will benefit are the Malaysians out there seeking to uncover the truth," said Pua, who is also DAP's national publicity secretary.

On Friday night, Arul appeared on Bernama TV for an interview, which prompted Pua to say only "recycled" answers were given.

Pua, on Saturday, then challenged Arul to a "live talk show" which he would host and ask the questions.

Arul responded by saying he was agreeable to it, but only if Pua first stepped down from the PAC.

Indonesian maids to get RM900, says report

Employers will now have to pay RM900 in monthly salary for Indonesian maids, The Star reported today.

Indonesia's deputy ambassador to Malaysia Hermono reportedly said that this rate could be increased again to RM1,000, although he did not say when this would happen.

He said, however, that an Indonesian government agency had written to the embassy requesting for the increase.

The agency also requested in their October 15 letter for the embassy not to allow employers to make deductions from the salaries of the maids, where currently employers are allowed to deduct RM1,800 from the wages, which is the sum paid by the employers in advance to cover certain initial costs incurred by their hiring of the maids, the report said.

The report also quoted the Malaysian National Association of Employment Agencies as saying that its 270 members were in a bind given Indonesia's unilateral decision to set the minimum salary.

“Our members are having a headache trying to figure out what to do, because if we don’t adhere to Indonesia’s decision, we will not be able to bring in any maids.

“We hope the government can decide on the matter as soon as possible,” said association president Datuk Raja Zulkepley Dahalan, according to the report.

He also raised concerns that the cost to hire an Indonesian maid would rise if employers were not allowed to recover from the maid's salary, the RM1,800 they paid in advance, the report said.

The report also quoted Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot as saying that senior officials from both countries had not made a decision on the minimum salary at a Joint Working Group meeting in Jakarta on October 15.

He reportedly said that the matter would be discussed at the next working group meeting to be held in Putrajaya soon.

Last week however, Riot reportedly said that Malaysia and Indonesia had agreed to a slight increase in monthly wages for Indonesian maids from the current RM800, but declined to reveal the exact quantum.

He was reported to have said that the increase did not meet what Indonesia wanted for its maids.

"I won’t disclose the figure, ada naik sikit (there is a slight increase) but not to the amount which Indonesia had asked for," Riot reportedly said.

Reports in the past have said that 72% of maids in Malaysia are from Indonesia. – October 31, 2015.

Amber Chia: Rajinikanth didn't hijack my limo

PETALING JAYA: When model Amber Chia heard the news that Tamil superstar Rajinikanth was spotted in a Hello Kitty limo, she was “not angry at all”.

“When I saw that the Kollywood superstar had taken my limo, it’s okay. It’s just that the travel agency should have informed me earlier,” she told The Star Online.

Chia had waited at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) for nearly three hours, having expected the same limo to pick her up for the opening of the Hello Kitty Gourmet Cafe at Sunway Pyramid.

“When I heard about the hijacking, I don’t think a celebrity would do that. I trust Rajinikanth and fully respect him. He won’t do that to another person,” she said.

Chia had arrived at the airport around 6.15pm on Monday after a trip to Da Nang, Vietnam to judge for the Face of Vietnam model search.

To be on time for the Hello Kitty event, Chia did her hair and makeup during her transit time in Ho Chi Minh and chose not to check in her luggage.

On arrival in KLIA, the model was ready to leave for her next engagement at 6.20pm.

“But when I called the driver, he said he thought my arrival time was 7.30pm. I asked him how long I had to wait, and he told me he needed 45 minutes to reach KLIA,” she said.

An hour later, Chia called to check on the driver's whereabouts.

“He said he had an emergency in Malacca, and needed another 45 minutes,” Chia recounted.

Her third call to him at 8.20pm went unanswered.

With her client pushing the cafe’s opening to 9pm, Chia finally took a taxi to Sunway Pyramid and arrived 20 minutes before the mall’s closing time of 10pm.

Chia clarified that she only waited around that long as the client had invested into beautifying the limo, and her paid appearance included arriving at the cafe’s opening in the vehicle.

“I had to deliver my responsibility. I just feel bad for my client, and they apologised to me. They kept asking me to wait for the limo, and I thought that was because they spent a lot on the sticker,” she said.

She clarified that her client said the limousine was booked for the whole day.

According to Chia, other bloggers were also left in the lurch as the vehicle was supposed to pick them up for a limo tour with the media before a photo opportunity in front of the cafe.

However, the events of that night are still something of a mystery, and she looks forward to her client providing a full account of the incident.

“I hope I’m right, because to take away someone’s phone is illegal,” she said of reports that the star’s representatives had confiscated the driver’s mobile device.

“I fully respect Rajinikanth and I don’t think he would do this to another person. He is mature,” Chia added.

KUALA LUMPUR: Federal police arrested a Maldivian diplomat on Wednesday in connection with the attempted assassination of Maldives president Abdulla Yameen last month.

The 47-year-old Investment Counselor was nabbed by a team of Special Branch's Counter-Terrorism Division (SB-CTD) operatives at a condominium here.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the man was suspected to be involved with the assassination plot, involving a bomb which was set off onboard a speedboat carrying Yameen near Male on Sept 28.

"On Oct 28, SB-CTD launched a special operation in Kuala Lumpur and arrested a foreigner who is suspected to be involved in a plot to assassinate the president of Maldives on Sept 28.

"The suspect is a 47-year-old Maldivian man, who is also the country's Investment Counselor.

"He was arrested in a condominium together with four other Maldivians - two men and two women, aged between 28 and 38," he said in a statement received from federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman earlier today.

Khalid said the suspects were arrested under the Immigration Act, and had been deported to Maldives earlier today for further action by the country's authorities.

He said the special operation's success was the result of close cooperation between SB-CTD and Maldives authorities.

In the attack, Yameen was unhurt, while his wife and two aides sustained minor injuries from the blast.

On Oct 6, Reuters reported Minister in the President's Office Mohamed Hussain Shareef saying that the explosion was an assassination attempt.

Friday, 30 October 2015

An emergency motion was filed in Parliament today to discuss the violation media freedom in state-owned broadcaster RTM.

DAP Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching submitted the motion to the Dewan Rakyat speaker's office urging for the matter to be debated urgently.

In a statement released later, Teo urged the BN government to stop 'hidden hands' from violating media freedom when reporting on 1MDB related stories.

Malaysiakini reported yesterday that the Mandarin newsdesk at RTM had been 'punished' purportedly for airing an unflattering photograph of the prime minister.

Following this, RTM Mandarin newsreaders were made to read their reports without any accompanying video footage for the whole 20 minutes of their programmes resulting in the segment being monotonous and bland.

Besides being forced to go without video footage starting yesterday, the RTM Mandarin news aired this afternoon was addtionally without Chinese superimposed headlines.

Teo said since the matter affected millions of Chinese viewers daily, Parliament should debate it urgently.

"I also mentioned in my motion that no matter whether private or government station, any government intervention in the media is suppression of news freedom."

“I would like to remind BN government and the management of RTM that we are Malaysia and not North Korea. This type of high-handed approach renders press freedom a mockery,” she said.

Viewers affected

Gerakan vice-president Dominic Lau also raised concerns about the issue and has asked the authorities for an explanation.

If anyone had doubts about RTM's reporting, they should go through official channels and not oppress the media, said Lau in a statement.

He pointed out that without video footage, a TV news segment would be no different from radio, and such action would definitely reduce the attraction of the programme.

Plane catches fire during takeoff at Florida airport, several injured

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Reuters) - An engine on a passenger jet bound for Caracas, Venezuela, burst into flames while taxiing for takeoff at a Florida airport on Thursday, officials said, and several people were injured as they exited the plane using emergency slides.

Television images showed the Dynamic International Airways' Boeing 767-200ER surrounded by white foam and firefighters' trucks at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, its inflatable evacuation chutes deployed.

Video shot by a passenger on another plane showed thick gray smoke pouring from the flight before the blaze was extinguished. (Video: http://reut.rs/1P8bvzk)

Michael Jachles, a spokesman for Broward Sheriff's Office, said 101 people, including crew, were on board. Fifteen were transported to the hospital, he told reporters, one with serious burn wounds and two with less serious injuries.

The remaining injuries appeared to be bumps and bruises, Jachles said.

Officials got a call at 12:34 p.m. EDT (1634 GMT) that Dynamic Airways flight 405 experienced a left engine fire while taxiing on one of the airport's two runways.

Passengers had been completely evacuated by 12:37 p.m., Jachles told a news conference.

The airport reopened about three hours later.

The National Transportation Safety Board is sending four people to Fort Lauderdale to investigate the fire, the agency said on Twitter.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane had experienced a fuel leak before takeoff.

Greensboro, North Carolina-based Dynamic said in a statement that the crew became aware of an engine problem while taxiing for departure.

"The crew followed the emergency procedures, shut down the engine and evacuated the aircraft in order to assure safety to all on board," it said. "The company is conducting (an) initial investigation and will issue further information once available."

The carrier said on its website that it has operated wide-body aircraft since 2009.

The plane was powered by Pratt & Whitney JT9D engines, said Sara Banda, a spokeswoman from Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp.

Boeing Co said in a statement it is providing technical assistance to the NTSB investigation.

Dynamic's 767-200ER was built in 1986, and only seven such planes of that age or older remain in service out of 65 built, according to Collateral Verifications, an aircraft appraisal firm.

(Additional reporting by David Adams in Miami; Susan Heavey and Tim Ahmann in Washington; Letitia Stein in Tampa, Florida; Suzannah Gonzales and Jeffrey Dastin in New York; Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and Alwyn Scott in Seattle; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by G Crosse and Lisa Shumaker)

Heated discussion: Faizal (left) and Sharkar said a poll in a Telegram chat group exclusive only to Umno division chiefs showed 154 out of 170 wanted action be taken.

PETALING JAYA: More than 75% of Umno division chiefs want the supreme council to act against party leaders whose statements and actions have damaged the party, accor­ding to an internal poll.

Kapar Umno division chief Datuk Faizal Abdullah said the poll did not specify names but he did not deny that the names the division chiefs had in mind were deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, vice-­president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The poll conducted via the Telegram chat group exclusive only to Umno division chiefs showed that 154 of the 170 leaders in the chat group are asking for action against the culprits regardless of their position or status in the party.

“The overwhelming sentiment in the group was that, enough is enough,” said Faizal.

Temerloh division chief Datuk Sharkar Shamsudin, the administra­tor of the chat group, said the ball was now at the feet of the supreme council to take the appropriate action.

Sharkar, a Pahang state executive councillor, said there was no need to make a formal request to the supreme council because the majo­rity of the supreme council members were also division chiefs.

“They will know what needs to be done when the supreme council meets at the end of the month,” said Sharkar.

Muhyiddin’s position as deputy president and Shafie’s vice-president post may be in jeopardy while Dr Mahathir may find himself out of Umno for the third time in his life if the proposal is taken up by the supreme council.

Faizal added that the survey was done shortly after Muhyiddin’s no-holds barred talk at a political forum in Johor Baru last Saturday.

The former deputy prime minister had also criticised Najib’s handling of the 1MDB issue and said that the party was out to sideline him despite the sacrifices he had made.

“There was heated discussion in our chat room. They were upset that Tan Sri Muh­yiddin had called us cowards just because we don’t agree with him and chose to support the pre­sident,” said Faizal.

Those in the chat group were then asked to vote on the following motion: The division chiefs of Umno advocate that stern action be taken against those who are like scissors amid the folds (gunting dalam lipatan or internal saboteurs).

Within 48 hours, 76% of those in the chat room had voted in favour of the motion.

The first to do so was Penampang chief Datuk John Ambrose, whose division made waves when it passed a resolution to censure Muhyiddin for failing to uphold the party’s re­putation and honour.

“We are tired of the drama. They keep telling us they want to unite the party but their action is something else.

“It is like a marriage gone wrong, quarrelling in front of the children and the neighbours. It is not on for us,” said Faizal.

Many thought that Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor was referring to Dr Mahathir, Muhyiddin and Shafie when he spoke of action against seven Umno members.

It is understood that he was referring to the seven branch heads from Negri Sembilan who had asked Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to resign as president.

The division chiefs’ Telegram chat group has become an influential source of feedback for party leaders.

The group comprises 170 out of the 191 Umno division chiefs.

However, the Umno president and deputy president are not included in the group because members want to be able to discuss freely.

Stretched too thin: The limousine with Hello Kitty stickers on its sides ferrying Rajinikanth to Malacca.

MALACCA: Tamil actor Rajinikanth is in town for the shooting of his mob-thrillerKabali and things got hot the moment he arrived – especially for a 25-year-old limousine driver.

The driver of the Petaling Jaya-based car rental company had been asked to chauffeur the Indian superstar to a hotel in Kuala Lumpur at about 4pm on Monday.

A company spokesman said they had sent a stretch limousine adorned with “Hello Kitty” stickers, for use by the actor from 4pm to 6pm.

But, the actor only arrived at KLIA at 6pm and the driver told the movie star’s local representatives that he had to rush to pick up another VIP for the opening of a restaurant in Selangor.

The local representatives then confiscated the driver’s handphone and forced him to drive to Malacca, the spokesman said.

The terrified driver just obeyed the instructions.

“We tried to contact our driver but his handphone went un­­answered. We were desperate as the other event was at 6pm the same day,” the spokesman said.

The spokesman added that the driver called them only upon reaching Malacca at 8.20pm.

“Our company is facing flak from the second client just because of the breach.”

The company lodged a police report at the Brickfields district police headquarters on Tuesday.

State Private Affairs, Human Resources and NGO Affairs Committee chairman Datuk M.S. Mahadevan, who has been appointed by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Idris Haron to facilitate the filming, also said he had a bad experience with the local representatives.

Mahadevan claimed that a group of 20 men wearing T-shirts claiming to be bodyguards of the actor had roughed up state dignitaries and media personnel during the courtesy call by the “superstar” on Malacca Governor Tun Mohd Khalil Yaakob on Tuesday.

Those who were at the Governor’s office were all invited but Mahadevan said they were aggressively shoved aside by the “untrained bodyguards”.

Mahadevan later called the local organisers, and was told Rajinikanth himself had asked the bodyguards not to escort him.

The magistrate also fined Shabir another RM1,000 for causing disturbance at about 1.30pm at the mosque the same day.

Magistrate Siti Radziah finally fined Shabir RM10,000 for overstaying after his social visit pass expired on July 17.

She instructed Shabir who is from Srinagar, Kashmir, to undergo three months' jail, if he failed to pay the fines. However, he paid the fines.

The sentences against him were meted out after he admitted to the charges.

On Sept 30, Shabir was ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation at Hospital Bahagia in Tanjung Rambutan, Perak, after he did not respond to the interpreter when the charges were read to him.

Earlier in mitigation, Shabir's lawyer Shahrin Rosli submitted that his client had been remanded since Sept 18 and urged the court to give Shabir a minimum fine as a jail sentence was not suitable.

Shahrin said a jail sentence would make his client more depressed and would cause fear to other prisoners as his illness was aggressive in nature.

"A report from Hospital Bahagia has suggested that my client obtain follow-up treatment from a psychologist in Kashmir," he said.

Meanwhile Deputy Public Prosecutor Nor Diana Nor Azwa urged the court to mete out a deterrent sentence against the accused.

Medical reports showed that he suffered from bipolar mood disorder.

Based on the statement of facts, the accused had pushed the iman while he was leading Friday prayers. The imam attempted to continue with the prayers but the accused then slapped him on the left cheek.

PUTRAJAYA: A couple whom the prosecution said starved, abused, neglected and denied their Cambodian maid medical care which eventually led to her death were sentenced to death by the Court of Appeal Friday.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Lailawati Ali had argued that the trial judge was wrong to reduce the charge from murder to manslaughter against the couple.

Hardware store owner Soh Chew Tong, 46, and his wife Chin Chui Ling, 43, were found guilty by the Penang High Court for the manslaughter of their maid.

High Court Justice Zamani Abdul Rahim had in May 2013 sentenced the couple to 24 years in jail each for manslaughter of Cambodian maid Mey Sichan, 24.

The maid only weighed 26.1kg when she was rescued after seven months working at their house.

Ismail Sabri: Cabinet decides not to ban vaping

PETALING JAYA: The Cabinet on Friday has decided against imposing a ban on electronic cigarettes, or vaping.

"Good news for vapers, vape brewers and vape salesmen. Today, the Cabinet has decided not to ban vaping. Thank you to the Prime Minister and Government who understands the aspirations of the youth," said the Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob in a Facebook post on Friday.

Prior to this, the Health Ministry was considering imposing the ban.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said they were working to get the legislation ready before vaping became a major issue.

On August, the Health Ministry recommended a temporary halt to shisha and electronic cigarette smoking until the findings on its risks were announced.